Past News Items

It is a great pleasure to be with you today. I bring greetings from Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce.

The Department of the Interior, on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, accepts with great pride the contract for the first Army Junior ROTC unit ever installed at an all-Indian high school.

Fort Sill Indian School, I am sure, is justly proud of this achievement and honor. The staff of this fine institution is aware of the importance ROTC can play in the life of this country.

This year's Miss Indian America, Wahleah Lujan, 18, from Taos, N. Mex. will pay her first visit to Washington today through Tuesday, Jan. 31, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett announced today.

While here, the Ft. Lewis College (Colorado) sophomore will meet members of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee; will be welcomed to the District by Commissioner Walter Tobriner, Friday at 2:00 P.M. in the District offices; and feted at a reception given Saturday night by the American Indian Society at the home of its president, Mitchell Bush, Jr.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced that the Crow Creek Indian Agency now located at Fort Thompson, South Dakota, will be moved about December 1, to Pierre, S. Dak.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn announced today that the Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians and the Kaw Nation are the latest tribes to receive clearance of tribal leasing codes to enable them to handle leasing of their own Indian lands without having to obtain the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) approval.

The clearance came under the Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership Act (HEARTH Act), signed by President Obama in July 2012.

The Department of the Interior today gave copies of final draft litigation reports on the land claims of the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Indian tribes in the State of Maine to the Attorney General of that State and attorneys for the tribes. The draft report was delivered earlier in the week to the Justice I Department.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the Bureau of Indian Affairs has contracted with Cornell University Medical College, New York City, for the services of a physician specializing in diseases of the chest as a full-time staff member at the Navajo Medical Center, Fort Defiance, Arizona.

WASHINGTON – The Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform will hold the seventh in a series of public meetings on Aug. 19, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska, as part of the Commission’s comprehensive evaluation of the Department of the Interior’s management and administration of Indian trust assets. The meeting also will be accessible by teleconference and Webinar.

The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Chippewa Indians of Northern Wisconsin has taken action to correct accounting deficiencies and other irregularities in the administration of Federal funds received under contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest J. Gerard said today.

A BIA audit, completed this spring, revealed several problems including the failure to maintain adequate records, violation of contract terms, unauthorized payments to a tribal official and a total lack of accounting controls.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel today announced an FY 1989 budget for the Department that maintains funding levels for the Department's key operating programs, improves management of the Nation's water resources and adds funds to help eliminate hazardous wastes and contaminants affecting Interior activities.